The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-04-07
THE EDITORS DESK.
COMMENTS on TOPICS THAT ARE
INTERESTING THE PEOPLE,.

The Chronicle Expresses Its Opinion on
Passing Public Events and Questions
of lnte est Now Before the People.
If the report is true, that Judge Cooley
gave up a so5, 900 prac ice to accept
place, on The L. S Railroad Commission.
the country is to be congratulated. Judge
Cooley is a learned LAWYER and patriot
who is willing to serve his country at a
personal sacrifice. The Commission is
composed, throughout, of men of great
abllty-equal, in fact, to Supreme Court
Judges.
President Cleveland is neither too eco
nomical nor extravagant. 1t has nor been
said of hlm, as of Hayes, that he was mig
garCilv; nor, as of Arthur, that he was
lavish in his expenditures. He has the
good taste, which being interpreted means
good sense" to keep within the golden
mean. Those who know say he will save
$50, 900 year of his salary, living upon
$50. 900.
Sundays New York Star contained d
quarter page advertisement, the head line
of big type being Boys Confirmation
Suit, Four Dollars" The advertisement
continues ''our stock of confirmation suits
is the largest ever seen IN the city" What
next2 Imagine a vender, in the year 43
A D., advertising in the Jerusalem Her
aid: Come and buy sult-best ever
offered-by wearing this suit St. Peters
shadow will certainly fall on you as he
passes, and you will be healed" Can such a
thing be imagined in the Apostolic days2
John G.. SAKE is dead. This simple an
nou cement will be sad news to many who
have been cheered and frightened by his
poems of rare humor and good feeling.
His muse was prolific and his poems may
be numbered by the hundred. None of
them rank With the productions of the
Masters. such as Tennyson and Longfellow,
lu; III. have he power to please and to
provoke laughter. For more than a year
he has been afflicted with softening of the
brain and death was doubtless relief to
him.
Some years ago he wrote a poem, "A
Poets E egy," which, now that he is dead,
so we'll describes his own life and thought,
that We publish it. 1t may be. and some
lines indicate that such idea was present
to his mind, that he wrote it as a summing
up of his own life AT any rate it can be
appropriately applied to him:
POETS ELEGY.
Here rests, at last, from worldly care and
strife,
A gentle man 9f-rhyme,
life
Fell short of the sublime.
Yet, as his poems 1t was the critics praise)
Betrayed 4 careful mind
His life with less of license than his lays,
To Writ e was inclined.
What er of Wit the kin Ny Muse supplied
He ever strOve to D-nd
To Eollys hurt; nor once with wanton pllde
Employ ed to pain u friend
He loved a quip, but in his jesting vein
With stud Gus care effaced
The doubtful word that threatened to pro-
fame
The sacred or the chaste
He loathed the covert. diabolic jeer
That conscience undermlnes;
No limited sacriege nor sceptlc sneer
Turks in his laughing lines.
With satires sword to pierce the false ana
wrong;
A ballad TO invent
That bore wholesome sermon in the song
Such was the poets bent.
In social converse, HAPPY as king"
When COLLIER men refrained
From daring flights, he gave his fancy wing
And freedom unrestralned-
And golden thoughts, at times,-a motley
Came flashing from, the mine:
And fools who saw him in his merry mood
Accused the untasted wine.
He valued friendships favor more than
And paid his social dues;
He loved his Art,-but held his manly name
Far dearer than his Muse.
And partial friends, while gayly laughing
The merry lines they quote,
Say with sigh, ''To u the man was more
Than aught he ever wrote''
The Durham Graded School election was
held Monday. The vote stood: For the
school, 41O; against it, 151. While this Is
a large majority of the votes cast, 1t Is
not majority of the registered voters,
The Recorder says that the election will
be contested on the ground that no tax
istered voters favor it. The advocates OF
the school contend that it only requires a
majority of the '.qualified' voters, and
that no man is qualified" voler who
doesn't vote. The decision hangs on what
it requires to constitute a qualified voter
and the court will have to pass upon 1t.
In the Goldsboro Water Works case the
Supreme ourt b. Id that where there is Il
question to be decided by majority OF
.-qualified voters" under section Z, article
:, Of the constitution, and tn re are some
qualified voters whose names have hot
been registered, the unregistered voters
are not to be computed in ascerraining the
result Of the election; because, first, they
not being registered, are not ''q'Ialified
voters" in the meaning of the constitu' ion;
and second, because it does not appear
they possess the qualifications necessary
to registration.
We regret to hear that there will be q
contest of this election. Durham cannot
afford to be without public school. and
every man who loves Durham ought, now
e.,x,o hn,I